Chapter 7 - the lie at the basement door
Marcus switched off the monitor.
Naomi closed her laptop while Evelyn removed the hard drive containing the footage and slipped it into her bag.
Preston knocked again.
“Evelyn, I know you’re inside.”
Marcus looked at her.
“There is a rear exit.”
“Running will tell him we found something.”
“Staying may tell him the same thing.”
Evelyn walked to the door and opened it.
Preston stood on the other side wearing his rehearsal tuxedo. His expression was controlled, but sweat glistened at his temples.
“What are you doing here?” he asked.
“Reviewing hotel security.”
“The rehearsal started forty minutes ago.”
“I know.”
“Your mother is humiliated.”
“She’ll survive.”
Preston looked past her toward Marcus and Naomi.
“May I speak to my fiancée alone?”
“No,” Naomi said.
He ignored her.
“Evelyn, people are beginning to ask questions.”
“Then answer them.”
“What does that mean?”
“Tell them why you chased Sophie through the service hall.”
His eyes changed for only a second.
Then he laughed.
“She told you that?”
“The cameras told me.”
The color left his face.
Marcus remained near the cabinet.
Preston glanced toward it.
“Those systems are private property.”
“They belong to Vale Hotels,” Evelyn said. “I am the majority shareholder.”
“You are not authorized to remove company records.”
“I haven’t removed anything.”
It was the first lie Evelyn had told him.
Preston studied her bag.
Naomi stepped between them.
“The rehearsal is over. Evelyn will contact you tomorrow.”
“There will be no wedding unless she returns now,” Preston said.
Evelyn met his gaze.
“Then perhaps there will be no wedding.”
For the first time since she had known him, Preston lost control.
“You think you can embarrass me in front of three hundred people?”
“I think Sophie told the truth.”
“That child is destroying your life.”
“No. She may have just saved it.”
He stepped closer, lowering his voice.
“You have no idea what happens if this marriage fails.”
“Is that a threat?”
“It is a warning. Vale International cannot survive without the Hawthorne financing agreement.”
“Then the company will find another bank.”
“The company has eleven days before its primary debt facility collapses.”
Evelyn looked toward Naomi.
Her friend’s expression confirmed she had not known.
Preston smiled without warmth.
“Your father hid it from you. Your mother arranged the marriage to prevent a public bankruptcy. If you walk away, thousands of employees lose their jobs.”
Evelyn felt the trap closing around her.
Preston continued.
“You can protect one frightened child, or you can protect everyone who depends on your family.”
“You planned to frame her.”
“I planned nothing.”
“The footage proves otherwise.”
His eyes dropped again to Evelyn’s bag.
“The footage will disappear before anyone sees it.”
Marcus stepped forward.
“No, it won’t.”
Preston turned toward him.
“You work for my future wife.”
“I worked for her grandmother.”
“That woman has been dead for nine years.”
Marcus’s expression remained calm.
“She expected men like you to believe death ended her authority.”
Preston’s phone vibrated.
He read the message and immediately looked toward Evelyn.
“What did Sophie take from Room 17?”
“Nothing.”
“Do not lie to me.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
He showed her the screen.
A photograph had been sent from an unknown number.
It showed Sophie sitting on Evelyn’s bed with Nora’s stuffed rabbit in her arms.
May you like
The message beneath it read:
The key is inside the rabbit.
